What’s new in iOS 12?

This is it, iOS 12 has been revealed a this years WWDC conference keynote and now the fun starts for all the developers who are at San Jose this week, but we need to learn about what Apple has unveiled on stage for iOS 12.

Performance

Boy, Apple is hitting the message home hard that they are focusing hard on performance, especially for holder iPhone models, Craig Federighi said on stage “For iOS 12, we are doubling down on performance.” This is great news for users of phones like the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6, both are supported with iOS 12 this year.

To achieve this, the CPU on iOS devices will ramp up the clock speed a lot quicker than on previous versions of iOS, it will quickly be able to tell when you need a performance boost, such as scrolling or opening apps. On stage today, Craig Federighi said that apps will launch up to 40 percent faster on a device such as the iPhone 6 Plus, which he mentioned was an especially popular device. Across the system, the keyboard will pop up up to 50 percent faster than before, and also the camera will open up to 70 percent faster now, on older devices.

Notifications

Something the tech industry has been talking about lately is how limited the notifications are on iOS, with iOS 12 Apple is completely overhauling how they work. Now, iOS 12 supports grouped notifications, something that has been much requested, this works in a few ways though. It can group notifications into stacks, by app type, conversations and also notification groups can be dismissed in one gesture.

Notification settings will now pop up within an app and Siri will suggest that you may want to turn notifications off for an app you may not use much.

Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb hasn’t been as good as it could be for quite a a while now, with only being able to set one schedule, now with iOS 12 Apple has added the ability to turn on Do Not Disturb for a small period of time, using 3D Touch in Control Centre, and then to disable itself once you leave a specific location.

New stock app updates

A handful of the stock apps in iOS 12 are getting an overhaul.

Apple News

The Apple News app is getting a few new features this year with iOS 12,

Stocks

The Stocks app has been stuck in iOS as it is for a long time, really the last update the app had was back in 2013 with iOS 7, when it received a fresh lick of paint for the new look. Now Apple has but some effort into Stocks, its now on iPad and macOS for the first time and it works with iCloud for syncing of your favourite companies and Apple News is baked right in for related business news.

Voice Memos

The Voice Memos app, much like the Stocks app has also received an redesign for iOS 12 and now the app is avaible on iPad and supports iCloud syncing between macOS and iPhone.

Photos

For iOS 12, Apple is getting big into search. You can now search for businesses, events and more. The Photos app will now offer search suggestions as well as a new For You tab, similar to Music and News, which will suggest any filters you might want to use.

Siri

With iOS 12, Siri didn’t receive the love we were all hoping for but Apple is now opening up Siri to more developers and making it much easier for users to make their own shortcuts for certain apps.

New Measure App

Last year with iOS 11, one of the big new features was ARKit, allowing a wave of new apps that could augment games and objects into the real space you see in front of you.

Messages

FaceTime

FaceTime has pretty much been the same Steve Jobs announced it back in 2010 with the iPhone 4, it may look a bit different with iOS 11 and work across more Apple devices but it has never gone anywhere and it has been left for Skype and others to catch up. Now with iOS 12, Apple is adding quite a bit to FaceTime.

FaceTime has long only supported one-to-one communication, now for the first time FaceTime supports group conversations of up to 32 people, whether they are using macOS or iOS. As in the picture above, all the people in the chat are displayed in floating tiles and as someone speaks, their tile enlarges so you can see them better. Animoji and Memoji are both now supported within FaceTime. Also, within that group conversation – users on Apple Watch can join in, using audio only.

ARKit 2

Apple Books

iBooks is now Apple Books. Along with the new name is a new refreshed design, store and a handful of new features.

Little details

Apple has also added some little details to iOS 12, such as Messages will now suggest SMS security codes as AutoFill suggestions, so you won’t need to remember them again.

The battery section within the Settings app will now show you more information about usage over 24 hours or 10 days.

In selection Universities and Colleges in the States, contactless student cards can now be used with the Wallet app on Apple Watch and iPhone for use in the dorm, library and paying for snacks and dinners.

What devices are supported with iOS 12?

We reported at the end of April that Apple might be choosing to offer support this year for the oldest device that runs iOS 11, the iPhone 5s which was launched near the end of 2013. And they did, iOS 12 supports all the devices which run iOS 11 which is the iPhone 5s and newer, iPad Air and newer, iPad 5th generation and newer, all the iPad Pro models and the iPod touch 6th generation.

When is iOS 12 being released?

With any new software announced at WWDC, Apple always say that it will be coming “later this year” which for the past few years has always meant in September, shortly after the annual iPhone event. So expect September this year, but stay tuned to A&T Tech for more updates.

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Alex started Alex and Tom's Tech back in 2013, then started KDL Media and Alex and Ed Gaming in the same year. Since then both news websites have come really far. Alex covers tech news, car news and everything else and running the site! You can find Alex on Twitter, at @alexlowe30